I/O vs outboard

[WIMUSKY]

Re: I/O vs outboard

I never knew what a controversial topic this was. Can someone tell me what the best oil is to use in an I/O and an outboard

I tried to warn you in post #2. Saw it coming a mile away.....

For real. I have never had an outboard besides a 5HP Honda so I don't know much about them.

4 stroke, EFI, O/B............Trouble free, so far..............Nuff said....

 

[JoLin]

Re: I/O vs outboard

Absolute reliability diesel straight inboard. Nothing else close. Next best 4 stroke outboard. Next 2 stroke outboard. Way way last is an I/O.

Now there's a great, factual,... uh... opinion. :facepalm:

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: I/O vs outboard

the question was to compare OB with I/O for "stout and reliable."

I don't think the inherent difference between the two power plants has anything to do with "stout" or "reliable."

All of the advantages or weak points of one or the other don't have anything to do with "stout and reliable." There are lots of other variables between the two that are merely differences; which one is better suited has more to do with the hull, the use and the location.

However, outboards are better. Everyone knows that.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: I/O vs outboard

However, outboards are better. Everyone knows that.

Yah, true.

Well, with one exception, IO's beat the pants off OB's.

Pretty sure there's hard data out there to support that, totally not a biased opinion.


:becky:

 

[agallant80]

Re: I/O vs outboard

So I know what can go wrong with an I/O configuration (bellows, gimble, ujoints) but what can go wrong with an outboard besides water intrusion in to the drive and engine issues which I/O are not immune from.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: I/O vs outboard

That's pretty much it. An I/O has more points of failure. An engine is an engine. How the engine transmits the power to the water is the difference.

On an O/B there is a shaft out of the bottom of the engine (powerhead) that goes down to the lower unit. It then, through a set of gears, turns 90 degrees and is attached to the prop. No u-joints, one 90 degree turn.

On an I/O there is a coupler at the back of the engine. A shaft couples to the engine, goes through the transom, through a set of u-joints (to accommodate trim/tilt) and into the drive unit. Inside the drive you there is a set of gears to allow a 90 degree turn down. Then a shaft goes down to the lower unit and, through gears, makes another 90 degree turn to the prop shaft. Hole in the transom, u-joints, 2 - 90 degree turns.

 

[V153]

Re: I/O vs outboard

Granpappy Jack was fond of saying, "Date an I/O, but marry an Outboard ..."

 

[79Renken]

Re: I/O vs outboard

I think the answer is a matter of perspective.

When I bought my first boat 10 years ago I knew with my budget I'd be getting an older boat and have to work on it myself. I've never had luck with smaller engines (lawn mowers, weedeaters, go cart, etc.) but I used to race at a local hobby track and had built a number car engines. I've never actually worked on an outboard so possibly my logic was faulty. Regardless I've been very happy with my I/O.

 

[kahuna123]

Re: I/O vs outboard

It depends on where you live. Down here I/O's don't last period. On your next vacation go to any marina and look around. For that matter go to boat trader and look at boats for sale down here. You can't give an I/O away.
As I said before seeing them up North 20 years old and doing fine no wonder you have that opinion. You should like I/O's. Cheaper and easy fix motors. Cheap parts I understand that.

But down here we use our boats 12 months a year in a harsh environment. I can't count the times I have seen someone come down and by a cheap boat with an I/0 take it out in the gulf, realize it not near the boat they need and then can't get rid of it. I feel bad for them. My neighbor from MI has a beautiful 20ft bowrider that is useless down here. Fairly new boat (I/O) and had the pull the oil pan. It can't take any more than 2ft and that is a calm day here.

Diesel inboard most reliable?? That's a FACT. Look at any commercial fishing boat of any size that fishes year round anywhere and see what they are running. Come down here and go to the docks and see the boats that continually go out 200 miles from shore year round for weeks at a time to make money and see what they are running.

Opinion? Yes I give you that. But its kinda like me telling you which snowmobile is best!

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: I/O vs outboard

So I know what can go wrong with an I/O configuration (bellows, gimble, ujoints) but what can go wrong with an outboard besides water intrusion in to the drive and engine issues which I/O are not immune from.

what can go wrong? anything and everything. In my 45 years of running outboards, just when I think I've been through the list, the motor adds one to it.

But as for problems peculiar to an OB, I'd say the LU--that 90* turn K described, is a weak spot, but it's not as bad as the "transmission" in an I/O. And it's not all that weak in an OB; certainly nothing to worry about and doesn't even factor into the decision process--like it should in buying an I/O.

To me the scariest part of an i/o is the bellows: a flap of cheap Chinese rubber that can sink your boat in an instant. No thank you. Deal breaker.

In older OB's the VRO system that mixes the oil and gas for you is a weak spot. Not an issue if you premix or in the Yam's with a reservoir for back-up.

 

[04fxdwgi]

Re: I/O vs outboard

Hmmm. Now I'm in a quandry. I bought my I/O powered boat in FL and towed to NY. Boat is now just about 22 years old w/ over 1350 hours on the origional 454 and Bravo1 I/O (both look and run like new). If I had known they don't last in FL, I would never had made that purchase three years ago.

As far a "a flap of cheap Chinese rubber that can sink your boat in an instant" , the main operative words here would be "proper maintenance" and "don't buy the cheapest crap you can find on the web" to maintain the boat.

I, personally, like I/O's because I'm an old school hot rod motor head and like the big block V-8's. The cost of an outboard to equal my 454 Mag BBC is staggering, from what I have seen. Plus my taste in boats is more condusive to the I/O configuration. But that is just my taste.

They both have strong points and both have weak points. It is all up to your tastes and tolerance to what some folks consider / envision as certain "weak points".

My comments are biased, like everyone elses, of course. Plus they are tongue in cheek and not meant to offend. Your milage and experiances may vary.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: I/O vs outboard

I wouldn't say your comment is biased; I'd say you have a well-reasoned opinion as to why i/o works for you and your boating circumstances. My equally well-reasoned opinion applies to different circumstances and thus reaches a different conclusion. Which is why a "which is better" is a meaningless question that generally leads to meaningless arguments that don't bring in the circumstances.

I think the only undisputable factual considerations are (a) an i/o takes up deck space, (b) it requires freeze protection, (c) can't run as shallow. It also seems, but I don't know, that salt water is a problem for them and it is not for OBs. So if none of those circumstances matter to the circumstances, you are back to simple preferences rather than critical comparisons.

Still, OB's are better. everyone knows that.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: I/O vs outboard

:ranger:

its too early for the popcorn

 

[tpenfield]

Re: I/O vs outboard

I would much rather have an outboard(s). . . Even though I have owned only I/O boats.

the problem that I have found is . . . boats that fit my needs (lots of seating, good stern access, some water sports, some cabin space) for the most part come in I/O configurations.

Good sized outboard boats are typically oriented towards fishing, but I do not fish . . . lately, I have seen more seating in outboard boats, making them a closer fit to my needs, but then there is the budgetary constraint of a new boat.

As, I said before, the boating needs of an individual would tend to dictate whether they buy an outboard or an I/O, having little to do with which engine type is 'better'

Everybody knows outboards are better . . .

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: I/O vs outboard

I think the only undisputable factual considerations are (a) an i/o takes up deck space, (b) it requires freeze protection, (c) can't run as shallow. It also seems, but I don't know, that salt water is a problem for them and it is not for OBs.

A: I have 2 v8's and I have flat deck all the way to the transom AND nothing hanging off the back except a swim platform.....

B: true BUT I have closed cooling with antifreeze in the engines... only have to drain manifolds and inlet hose

C:my I/O engines can be tilted up higher than the keel and I can ease along with the boat bumping bottom if I was willing to do that to my hull...... I guess an outboard could let me boat over islands......

AND: Salt kills outboards too.....

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: I/O vs outboard

Smoke, you also have a 28' cabin cruiser. of course you have inboards; they could be i/o or direct. While there are boats that length and longer that are properly equipped with OB's, that is a function of hull design. Explaining why you have i/o in a 28' cabin cruiiser is like explaining why I have an OB on a 12' jon boat--no question.

The horse race is in the open boats from 15-25 feet for recreational use. That is where the comparision of the power plants makes sense-and still driven by circumstance.

salt water does not "kill" outboards and affects them marginally. But don't I/O's have "risers" that have to be replaced often if used in salt water? I don't know (as I said) but seem to recall it from posts here.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: I/O vs outboard

Here ya go. Didn't someone make a saltwater series, or, was it discontinued?

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: I/O vs outboard

I guess an outboard could let me boat over islands......

Worked for James Bond.

[URL=http://s1184.photobucket.com/user/sv29n/media/Cheap%20boats/glastron-speedboats002.jpg.html] [/URL]

 

[QC]

Re: I/O vs outboard

Chicks don't dig OBs.


Couldn't help it. My contribution to every OB vs. I/O thread.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: I/O vs outboard

chicks don't dig obs.

^+1 :d